Afghanistan

Cabinet Nominees Under Heavy Scrutiny in Parliament

Friday, 10 April 2015 19:49 Last Updated on Friday, 10 April 2015 21:40 Written by Mirabed Joyenda

Weeks after President Ashraf Ghani introduced his new cabinet nominees to Parliament, three parliamentary commissions are expected to finish reviewing the candidates within three days, the Higher Education Commission reported on Friday.

Khalil Ahmad Shaheedzada, a member of the Higher Education Commission, told TOLOnews that three out of 16 of the nominees have briefed MPson their programs. The only delay remaining involves their educational documents.

"Imperfections existed in the academic documents of the ministerial nominees who have been abroad and it has been dispatched to the ministry of higher education for verification and finally the documents reached to us on Wednesday night," Shaheedzada said. "We have scrutinized the documents of at least 12 nominees," he added.

Syed Mansoor Saadat Nadiri, the nominee for the Ministry of Housing, and Abdul Bari Jahani, the nominee for the Ministry of Information and Culture, reportedly had dual citizenships originally, but both nominees have since given up their foreign citizenships.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the body with authority for us in regard to the issue of dual citizenship, but our findings reveal that the ministerial nominees do not have dual citizenships and the two nominees have already renounced their foreign citizenships," International Affairs Commission head Mohammad Omar Nangyalai said.

Meanwhile, Parliament's Administrative Board has stressed that the cabinet must be completely formed as soon as possible.

"The complete documents of some of the ministerial nominees are yet to reach to us, and we can complete our task after the response letters reach us," Second Deputy Speaker Nazir Ahmad Ahmadzai said. "If God willing, voting will be conducted for the nominees by Saturday or Monday next week. We are strongly determined to form the cabinet swiftly and fill the vacuum, therefore we will try to put pressure on the government to introduce the positions of independent directorates."

Nominees for the ministries of higher education, social affairs and counter narcotics are expected to present their platforms and programs to lawmakers tomorrow.

The national unity government has yet to introduce nominees for the Supreme Court, Attorney General's Office and the Central Bank of Afghanistan. Reportedly, disagreements between the leaders of the government forced have cause the delays, and even led to the nominee for the Ministry of Defense to withdraw his nomination.